Barcelona, according to their assistant coach, have not bothered him. “We have
to leave him in peace,” Jordi Roura said. Bayern Munich, too, have not made
the call. “I respect him, but I do not need advice from anyone,” Jupp
Heynckes, the Bayern coach, said. “There has been no contact at all.”

There does not need to be. All eyes may have been on Lionel Messi in
yesterday’s training session at the Allianz Arena, the media in Catalonia
and in Bavaria abuzz with theories as to whether the Argentinian is fit
enough to play in the first leg tonight, but